Earpiece with Added Ambient Environment

ABSTRACT

An earpiece includes an earpiece housing, wherein the earpiece housing is configured to substantially encompass an opening of an ear canal to physically block ambient sound from entering the ear canal. The earpiece further includes a processor disposed within the earpiece housing, at least one microphone operatively connected to the processor and configured to sense ambient sound, and a speaker operatively connected to the processor. The processor is configured to process the ambient sound from the microphone and add additional ambient sound to produce a modified ambient sound at the speaker.

PRIORITY STATEMENT

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/804,107 filed on Nov. 6, 2017 which claims priority to U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 62/417,374 filed on Nov. 4, 2016 allof which are titled Earpiece with Added Ambient Environment and all ofwhich are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to wearable devices. More particularly,but not exclusively, the present invention relates to earpieces.

BACKGROUND

In certain instances, users may wish to listen to ambient sounds insteadof filtering them out when wearing an earpiece. However, the user maywant to listen to an ambient sound not present in the user's currentenvironment. Thus, a system and method are needed allowing a user toincorporate ambient sounds not present in the user's environment withother ambient sounds while wearing the earpieces.

SUMMARY

Therefore, it is a primary object, feature, or advantage of the presentinvention to improve over the state of the art.

It is a further object, feature, or advantage of the present inventionto allow a user to add an additional ambient sound to other ambientsounds to listen to.

It is a still further object, feature, or advantage of the presentinvention to simultaneously improve audio transparency and allow a userto add an ambient sound which may not be present in the user'senvironment.

According to one aspect, an earpiece includes an earpiece housing,wherein the earpiece housing is configured to substantially encompass anopening of an ear canal to physically block ambient sound from enteringthe ear canal. The earpiece further includes a processor disposed withinthe earpiece housing, at least one microphone operatively connected tothe processor and configured to sense ambient sound, and a speakeroperatively connected to the processor. The processor is configured toprocess the ambient sound from the microphone and add additional ambientsound to produce a modified ambient sound at the speaker. The earpiecemay further include a wireless transceiver disposed within the earpiecehousing and operatively connected to the processor. The earpiece mayfurther include data storage disposed within the earpiece housing andoperative connected to the processor and wherein a representation of theadditional ambient sound is stored within the data storage. The earpiecemay further include a gestural interface operative connected to theprocessor and wherein the processor is configured to receive a selectionof the additional ambient sound through the gestural interface. Theearpiece may further include an inertial sensor disposed within theearpiece housing and operative connected to the processor.

According to another aspect, a method of adding an ambient environmentto sound reproduced at an earpiece is provided. The method may includereceiving ambient environment sound at a microphone of the earpiece,processing the ambient environment sound at a processor of the earpieceto add one or more additional ambient sounds to the ambient environmentsound to produce a modified ambient environment sound, communicating themodified ambient environment sound from the processor of the earpiece toa speaker of the earpiece, and producing the modified ambientenvironment sound at the speaker of the earpiece. The method may furtherinclude receiving a selection of the one or more additional ambientsounds at the earpiece. This receiving step may be performed using agestural interface of the earpiece.

In one embodiment, a system includes an earpiece having an earpiecehousing, wherein the earpiece housing is configured to substantiallyencompass an opening of an ear canal, a processor disposed within theearpiece housing, at least one microphone operatively connected to theprocessor and configured to sense ambient sound, and a speakeroperatively connected to the earpiece housing and operatively connectedto the processor, wherein the processor is configured to process theambient sound from the microphone and add additional ambient sound toproduce a modified ambient sound at the speaker.

One or more of the following features may be included. The earpiece maycomprise a set of earpieces. The set of earpieces may comprise a leftearpiece and a right earpiece. The earpiece housing may be composed ofsoundproof materials. The earpiece housing may be further configured tosubstantially fit within an ear canal. The earpiece housing may alsohave a sheath attached to a side proximate to the ear canal. One or moremicrophones may be configured to receive voice commands. A boneconduction microphone may be positioned to receive voice commands orother voice input from the user. A gesture control interface may beoperatively connected to the earpiece housing and operatively connectedto the processor. The gesture control interface may be configured toserve as a user interface.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 includes a block diagram of one embodiment of the system

FIG. 2 illustrates a system including a left earpiece and a rightearpiece.

FIG. 3 illustrates a right earpiece and its relationship to an ear.

FIG. 4 includes a block diagram of a second embodiment of the system.

FIG. 5 includes a flowchart of one implementation of the method ofadding an ambient environment at an earpiece.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of the system 10 having at least oneearpiece 12 having an earpiece housing 14. A microphone 16 is positionedto receive ambient sound. One or more processors 18 may be disposedwithin the earpiece housing 14 and operatively connected to microphone16. A gesture control interface 20 is operatively connected to theprocessor 18. The gesture control interface 20 configured to allow auser to control the processing of the ambient sounds such as byselecting a source of ambient sounds which the user wishes to listen to.An inertial sensor 36 is also shown which is operatively connected tothe one or more processors. One or more speakers 22 may be positionedwithin the earpiece housing 14 and configured to communicate the ambientsounds desired by the user. The earpiece housing 14 may be composed ofsoundproof materials to improve audio transparency or any materialresistant to shear and strain and may also have a sheath attached inorder to improve comfort, sound transmission or reduce the likelihood ofskin or ear allergies. In addition, the earpiece housing 14 may alsosubstantially encompass the external auditory canal of the user in orderto substantially reduce or eliminate external sounds to further improveaudio transparency.

One or more microphones 16 may be positioned to receive one or moreambient sounds. The ambient sounds may originate from the user, a thirdparty, a machine, an animal, another earpiece, another electronic deviceor even nature itself. The types of ambient sounds received by themicrophones 16 may include words, combination of words, sounds,combinations of sounds or any combination of the aforementioned. Theambient sounds may be of any frequency and need not necessarily beaudible to the user.

The processor 18 is the logic controls for the operation andfunctionality of the earpiece(s) 12. The processor 18 may includecircuitry, chips, and other digital logic. The processor 18 may alsoinclude programs, scripts and instructions, which may be implemented tooperate the processor 18. The processor 18 may represent hardware,software, firmware or any combination thereof. In one embodiment, theprocessor 18 may include one or more processors including one or moredigital signal processors. The processor 18 may also represent anapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC), system-on-a-chip (SOC)or field programmable gate array (FPGA).

The processor 18 may also process gestures to determine commands orselections implemented by the earpiece 12. Gestures such as taps, doubletaps, triple taps, swipes, or holds. The processor 18 may also processmovements by the inertial sensor 36. The inertial sensor 36 may be a9-axis inertial sensor which may include a 3-axis accelerometer, 3-axisgyroscope, and 3-axis magnetometer. The inertial sensor 36 may serve asa user interface. For example, a user may move their head and theinertial sensor may detect the head movements. The processor 18 may alsoprovide for processing voice of a user in order in order to determinevoice commands of the user.

In one embodiment, the processor 18 is circuitry or logic enabled tocontrol execution of a set of instructions. The processor 18 may be oneor more microprocessors, digital signal processors, application-specificintegrated circuits (ASIC), central processing units or other devicessuitable for controlling an electronic device including one or morehardware and software elements, executing software, instructions,programs, and applications, converting and processing signals andinformation and performing other related tasks. The processor may be asingle chip or integrated with other computing or communicationscomponents.

A gesture control interface 20 is mounted onto the earpiece housing 14and operatively connected to the processor 18 and configured to allow auser to select one or more environmental sounds to add or to otherwiseselect settings associated with the one or more environmental sounds.The gesture control interface 20 may be located anywhere on the earpiecehousing 14 conducive to receiving a gesture and may be configured toreceive tapping gestures, swiping gestures, or gestures which do notmake contact with either the gesture control interface 20 or anotherpart of the earpiece 12. FIG. 2 illustrates a pair of earpieces whichincludes a left earpiece 12A and a right earpiece 12B. The left earpiece12A has a left earpiece housing 14A. The right earpiece 12B has a rightearpiece housing 14B. A microphone 16A is shown on the left earpiece 12Aand a microphone 16B is shown on the right earpiece 12B. The microphones16A and 16B may be positioned to receive ambient sounds. Additionalmicrophones may also be present. Speakers 22A and 22B are configured tocommunicate modified sounds 46A and 46B after processing, the modifiedsounds including the added environmental sounds. The modified sounds 46Aand 46B may be communicated to the user

FIG. 3 illustrates a side view of the right earpiece 12B and itsrelationship to a user's ear. The right earpiece 12B may be configuredto isolate the user's ear canal 48 from the environment so the user doesnot hear the environment directly but may hear a reproduction of theenvironmental sounds as modified by the earpiece 12B which is directedtowards the tympanic membrane 50 of the user. There is a gesture controlinterface 20 shown on the exterior of the earpiece. FIG. 4 is a blockdiagram of an earpiece 12 having an earpiece housing 14, and a pluralityof sensors 24 operatively connected to one or more processors 18. Theone or more sensors may include one or more bone microphones 32 whichmay be used for detecting speech of a user. The sensors 24 may furtherinclude one or more biometric sensors 34 which may be used formonitoring physiological conditions of a user. The sensors 24 mayinclude one or more microphones 16 which may be used for detecting soundwithin the ambient environment of the user. The sensors 24 may includeone or more inertial sensors 36 which may be used for determiningmovement of the user such as head motion of the user which may provideuser input. A gesture control interface 20 is also operatively connectedto the one or more processors 18. The gesture control interface 20 maybe implemented in various ways including through capacitive touch orthrough optical sensing. The gesture control interface 20 may includeone or more emitters 42 and one or more detectors 44. Thus, for example,in one embodiment, light may be emitted at the one or more emitters 42and detected at the one or more detectors 44 and interpreted to indicateone or more gestures being performed by a user. One or more speakers 22are also operatively connected to the processor 18. A radio transceiver26 may be operatively connected to the one or more processors 18. Theradio transceiver may be a BLUETOOTH transceiver, a BLE transceiver, aWi-Fi transceiver, or other type of radio transceiver. A transceiver 28may also be present. The transceiver 28 may be a magnetic inductiontransceiver such as a near field magnetic induction (NFMI) transceiver.Where multiple earpieces are present, the transceiver 28 may be used tocommunicate between the left and the right earpieces. A memory 37 isoperatively connected to the processor and may be used to storeinstructions regarding sound processing, user settings regardingselections, or other information. The memory 37 may be a machinereadable non-transitory memory and one or more additional ambient soundsmay be stored on the memory 37 which may then be mixed in with theambient environment sound. The memory 37 may also store settingsregarding how the additional ambient sounds are to be mixed in. Thesesettings may include such features as the volume or intensity to use forthe additional ambient sounds or other such settings. One or more LEDs38 may also be operatively connected to the one or more processors 18and may be used to provide visual feedback regarding operations of thewireless earpiece.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart of one embodiment of a method 100 ofadding an ambient environment sound. In step 102, ambient sound isreceived at the earpiece. One or more microphones of the earpiece may beused to detect the ambient sound. It is also to be understood there maybe a set of wireless earpieces present including a left earpiece and aright earpiece and each earpiece may have one or more microphones. Instep 104, the ambient sound is processed to mix in additional soundselected by the user. The additional sound selected by the user may beof any number of types. It may be ambient sound of a type which the usermay find soothing or relaxing such as waves at a beach, waterfalls, orsimilar natural sounds. It may be white noise if the user finds ithelpful to drown out the other ambient noise. It may be the sound of abusy street, or any other type of ambient environment the user wishes toadd. It should be understood, although sound is added, the originalambient sound is still present although it may be processed to amodified form. Thus, the user may still hear various sound sourceswithin the user's environment. In one embodiment, the additional ambientsounds may be stored as one or more sound files on the wireless earpieceand the processor may use a mixing function to mix the additionalambient sounds with the detected ambient sounds. In some instances, theadditional ambient sounds may be generated by the processor instead ofbeing stored. The user may select the additional ambient sounds in anynumber of ways. For example, voice commands such as may be detectedusing one or more bone conduction microphones may instruct the earpieceas to which ambient sound(s) to add. The gestural control interface maybe used to instruct the earpiece as to which ambient sound(s) to add.Where the earpiece includes a wireless transceiver, the earpiece may bein operative communication with other devices such as with a mobiledevice and the user may use the mobile device to instruct the earpiecewhich ambient sounds to add.

In step 106, the modified ambient sound which includes the ambient sounddetected as well as the additional ambient sound is communicated to oneor more speakers in order to transduce or produce the modified ambientsound. Thus, the user hears the modified ambient sound. It is to beunderstood the processor may provide for generating 3D sound, so a userperceives sounds as being from a 3D environment. The added ambient soundmay be reproduced as 3D sound.

Therefore, various methods, systems, and apparatus have been shown anddescribed. Although various embodiments or examples have been set forthherein, it is to be understood the present invention contemplatesnumerous options, variations, and alternatives as may be appropriate inan application or environment.

What is claimed is:
 1. A set of wireless earpieces having a leftearpiece and a right earpiece, comprising: each of the left earpiece andthe right earpiece comprising: an earpiece housing configured tosubstantially encompass an opening of an ear canal to physically blockambient sound from entering the ear canal; a processor disposed withinthe earpiece housing; a transceiver operatively connected to theprocessor; a memory operatively connected to the processor, wherein anadditional ambient sound is stored on the memory; a plurality ofmicrophones operatively connected to the processor and configured tosense the ambient sound; and a speaker operatively connected to theprocessor; wherein the transceiver of the left earpiece is configured tocommunicate with the transceiver of the right earpiece; and wherein theprocessor of the left earpiece is configured to process the ambientsound from the plurality of microphones of the left earpiece and add theadditional ambient sound stored in the memory of the left earpiece toproduce a first modified ambient sound at the speaker of the leftearpiece and the processor of the right earpiece is configured toprocess the ambient sound from the plurality of microphones of the rightearpiece and add the additional ambient sound stored in the memory ofthe right earpiece to produce a second modified ambient sound at thespeaker of the right earpiece.
 2. The set of wireless earpieces of claim1, further comprising a wireless transceiver disposed within theearpiece housing of the left earpiece and operatively connected to theprocessor of the left earpiece and a wireless transceiver disposedwithin the earpiece housing of the right earpiece and operativelyconnected to the processor of the right earpiece.
 3. The set of wirelessearpieces of claim 2, further comprising a gestural interfaceoperatively connected to the processor of the left earpiece and agestural interface operatively connected to the processor of the rightearpiece, wherein the processor of the left earpiece is configured toreceive a selection of the additional ambient sound stored in the memoryof the left earpiece through the gestural interface of the left earpieceand the processor of the right earpiece is configured to receive aselection of the additional ambient sound stored in the memory of theright earpiece through the gesture interface of the right earpiece. 4.The set of wireless earpieces of claim 4, further comprising a 9-axisinertial sensor disposed within the earpiece housing of the leftearpiece and operatively connected to the processor of the left earpieceand a 9-axis inertial sensor disposed within the earpiece housing of theright earpiece and operatively connected to the processor of the rightearpiece.
 5. The set of wireless earpieces of claim 1, wherein the leftearpiece further comprises a bone conduction microphone configured toreceive voice commands for adding the ambient environment sound storedin the memory of the left earpiece and the right earpiece furthercomprises a bone conduction microphone configured to receive the voicecommands for adding the ambient environment stored in the memory of theright earpiece.
 6. The set of wireless earpieces of claim 3 wherein thegesture interface of the left earpiece is a capacitive touch interfaceand the gesture interface of the right earpiece is a capacitive touchinterface.
 7. A method of adding an ambient environment sound to soundreproduced with a pair of wireless earpieces having a left earpiece anda right earpiece, the method comprising: receiving the ambientenvironment sound at a microphone of the left earpiece; receiving theambient environment sound at a microphone of the right earpiece;receiving a voice command from a user to add one or more additionalambient sounds to the ambient environment sound; processing the ambientenvironment sound from the microphone of the left earpiece at aprocessor of at least one of the left earpiece and the right earpiece toadd the one or more additional ambient sounds to the ambient environmentsound to produce a first modified ambient environment sound at the leftearpiece and processing the ambient environment sound from themicrophone of the right earpiece at a processor of at least one of theright earpiece and the left earpiece to add the one or more additionalambient sounds to the ambient environment sound from the microphone ofthe right earpiece to produce a second modified ambient environmentsound at the right earpiece; communicating the first modified ambientenvironment sound from the processor of at least one of the leftearpiece and the right earpiece to a speaker of the left earpiece andcommunicating the second modified ambient environment sound from theprocessor of at least one of the right earpiece and the left earpiece toa speaker of the right earpiece; and producing the first modifiedambient environment sound at the speaker of the left earpiece andproducing the second modified ambient environment sound at the speakerof the right earpiece.
 8. The method of claim 7 wherein the voicecommand is received at a bone conduction microphone of at least one ofthe left earpiece and the right earpiece.